


tonight, we're beautiful now

by askmeaboutmyoctopustheory



Series: clintucky fried chicken [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Amputee Bucky Barnes, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Avengers Tower, Deaf Clint Barton, Disabled Character, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 13:00:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18691990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askmeaboutmyoctopustheory/pseuds/askmeaboutmyoctopustheory
Summary: Soft WinterHawk interacting with kids and being generally good boisset i guess after civil war?? who tf knows timelines are fucked





	tonight, we're beautiful now

Yeah, maybe Bucky hated crowds and idle chatter. And maybe Clint hated mingling with strangers who would give him pitying glances when they saw his hearing aides. But both men were more than willing to spend an evening on the other’s arm if it got Potts off their ass to improve their Public Image™.

 

Plus, a gala for crippled-no, disabled was the term- kids was not by far the worst thing PR could make them do, Bucky remembered the disastrous calendar shoot with a shudder. He got a custom tailored suit out of it and so did his boyfriend and they got to spend the evening together so really it was a win-win for everyone.

 

“Buck.” a soft voice came from behind him as he adjusted his tie. 

 

Clint was one of the few people who were allowed the luxury of being able to survive sneaking up on him. Shadows were sharp across his face and the silver star tie tack stood out on the purple tie.

 

“Do you mind?” Bucky extended a small velvet box with bow and arrow cufflinks in it. He gestured to the pinned up left sleeve of his coat. “Damn hard with only one arm”

 

“You want the bow or the arrow?”   
  
“I always want your arrow” Bucky cracked a grin that could bring a peace treaty as the archer gave him a withering glance. 

 

“Keep it in your pants, Sarge.” Clint gave his all black ensemble a once-over before pulling him in. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

 

“Oh please, you don’t have to  _ make _ anything.”

\------

 

Stark Industries, and by extension The Avengers, had always been a generous benefactor to the Children’s Miracle Foundation. Not to mention they had supplied much of the tech to get the nonprofit off the ground. Bucky had hated the idea of schmoozing and mingling at first, but the first little kid with sparkling eyes and a prosthetic sticking from their sleeve had changed his mind. The unintended benefit of spending more time seeing his boyfriend in formal wear was just that, a bonus.

 

Tonight’s gala was to support some medical breakthrough that Stark had funded, Bucky didn’t care, he only cared about the expensive whiskey in Barton’s glass and the flask of Thor’s mead he had in his own jacket. That was selfish, he thought internally, he also cared about the slew of kids he had gotten to know over the almost year he had been involved in getting to know the kids who benefitted from the Foundation. They were all here too, sipping on sparkling apple juice in fancy champagne flutes in tiny dresswear. 

 

He cared about them a lot, he mused, as he thought about the awkward one-armed games of patty cake and cat’s cradle he had played. Some of the kids were outfitted with shiny Stark prosthetics in their preferred color, but some had chosen to go without. Bucky personally liked to switch it up, hence why there was a crossbow pinning his left jacket sleeve up. He made his way over to the table of children who were hyped up on cake and apple juice, getting swarmed the whole way and allowing him to be brought down to his knees by tiny hands and excited voices. Pepper would throw a fit if she saw him in his expensive suit on the dirty ballroom floor, or maybe she wouldn’t. 

 

“Where’s your shiny arm Mr. Barnes?” One of the younger ones asked him.

 

“I decided to go without it tonight, Joey.” Bucky ruffled the hair of the little boy in a wheelchair. 

 

He made his way through the crowd of kids, talking to each of them and swooping into one armed hugs. His smiles came easy and he felt good. He would do all the galas Potts wanted him to if they were all like this. 

 

Bucky saw one of the older girls sitting sullenly at the long table dedicated to the prosthesis branch of the Miracle Foundation. She was about 14 and was usually saddled with the responsibility of dealing with all the younger children at these sort of events. Bucky tried to callback to the 40’s dancehall charm as he made his way to her.

 

“Miss Ashley?” Bucky said, extending a polite hand to her. “Surely you didn’t come here just to sit down all evening. Would you care to dance?”

 

Regardless of the fact he was just offering her a reprieve from babysitting duty, she ducked her eyes down. No matter the intention, no one was immune to the charm of James Barnes. She followed him to the dance floor in her fancy dress, allowing herself to be dipped and spun to a swing beat. Her own prosthetic leg doing little to deter their dancing as it devolved into frenzied twirling as the other children swarmed to the floor at the sound of a more modern song. 

 

Bucky’s smile lit up his face as he made his way to the bar, getting another soda to spike with his otherworldly liquor. He stood against the back wall like Steve would do all those years ago, watching the dancing and revelry from the fringes. His instincts didn’t allow him to not scan for exits and possible threats, especially not since there were all the kids here. 

 

Obviously his eyes were drawn to Clint as he was scanning his surroundings. The blonde had nestled himself amongst the children who were Deaf and was signing to them enthusiastically. Bucky could obviously read their conversation across the room but instead looked at the soft and joyful look on Clint’s face. Perhaps it was his sniper instincts or romantic instincts that drew Clint’s eyes up to meet his boyfriend’s across the room. Bucky set his drink down and signed “I love you” with a wink. 

 

Clint extracted himself from the kids, not without being teased in ASL and verbally, before making his way to where his boyfriend still stood. Hair swept up into a bun that had been tousled by the kids and excitement of the evening, black suit and black shirt standing bold against the wall. Bucky had shaken off the conditioning of HYDRA but seemingly couldn’t shake the bad boy aesthetic. Not that Clint was complaining.

 

“I hear you’re quite the dancer, Sergeant Barnes.”   
  
“Is that so, Agent Barton?” Bucky countered, since they were playing that game. “Would you like to be the judge of that yourself?”   
  
“Maybe I would.” Clint struggled to keep the aloof demeanor but allowed himself to be swept along like many before him into a dance with Bucky.

 

Yeah, some PR events weren’t awful.

**Author's Note:**

> idk i just fell down a winterhawk hole hard and needed to get this out
> 
> find me on twitter @_AMAMOT
> 
> sorry for spelling and grammar errors i'm sleepy af


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